Serendipitous Book-Buying

Yesterday I was made a delightful last-minute diversion to see Savidge Reads after discovering that my trip up North for work would mean I was within spitting distance of Manchester. I was sad to have been unable to make it in time to go to John Rylands library – see how fabulous it looks:

Oh dear, I’ll suppose I’ll just have to go back and visit again!

Of course a trip to a book shop was in order, so we popped into Waterstones for a drink in the café.

Simon persuaded me that I should get the new Sophie Hannah book – Lasting Damage. I’m a bit off a devotee, having started out reading her short stories and going on to read every one of the Waterhouse & Zailer series. It was with very little difficulty that he overcame my grumbling about not having read A Room Swept White first by pointing out that the new hardback cost less than a paperback.

I was thoroughly impressed by the Penguin Mini-Moderns, and Shirley Jackson’s writing was recommended to me after my glowing review of Ludmilla Petrushevskaya’s short stories, so I also invested a modest £3 in the The Tooth.

And… what should happen today? I fell into my local second hand book shop and lo and behold a nearly-new copy of A Room Swept White was for sale for £2.50.

10 responses to “Serendipitous Book-Buying”

Funnily enough, I will count Sophie Hannah’s Lasting Damage as my serendipitous purchase als0, for a different reason. As you know, I had been struggling with reading anything for the last 2 months and really starting to freak out about it and then I saw Lasting Damange in Sainsbury’s for £6.49 and thought it would be rude not to so I bought it on the Saturday evening and by Monday morning I had finished! It was the book that got me out of my rut – HURRAH!!!!!!